Marine Le Pen has been a superstar of Europe’s far-right movement until a spectacular court ruling banned her from running for the French presidency in 2027.

PARIS (AP) — For years, Marine Le Pen stood at the gates of power — poised, relentless and rising. She stripped the French far right of its old symbols, sanded down its roughest edges and built in its place a sleek, disciplined machine with the single goal of winning the country’s presidency.

It was a good day for French democracy but the far-right may still win the 2027 presidential election, writes Cole Stangler.

Le Pen called her ban from running a "nuclear bomb" by the system, after a court convicted her of embezzlement and blocked her from office for five years.

The home address of Benedicte de Perthuis - the head of a three-judge panel that found Le Pen guilty of embezzling EU funds and handed her a five-year ban on seeking public office - was shared online after she delivered her ruling on Monday, the source said. She is now receiving police protection at work and at home.

Le Pen was sentenced on Monday to an immediate ban on standing for election for five years, which would make it impossible for her to run for president in 2027 unless the ban is overturned in an appeal before then.

France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen was found guilty of embezzlement and barred from running in elections for five years.

For generations, Marine Le Pen’s family has held the reins of France’s nationalist party. Now Le Pen must decide whether to fight for her political future or make way for a successor.

Prosecutors have accused Ms. Le Pen and other members of the National Rally of embezzling some $4.8 million in European Union funds, essentially through no-show jobs at the European Parliament for lawmaker “assistants,” who were rarely there and worked as party staff.